The present invention relates to an integrated services hub (ISH) for use with broadband packet networks, and more specifically it relates to a method and apparatus for minimizing the power supply required to drive ring voltage to telephones connected to the ISH.
Traditionally, telephony communications within the United States were handled by the public switched telecommunications network (PSTN). The PSTN can be characterized as a network designed for voice communications, primarily on a circuit-switched basis, with full interconnection among individual networks. The PSTN network is largely analog at the local loop level, digital at the backbone level, and generally provisioned on a wireline, rather than a wireless, basis. The PSTN includes switches that route communications between end users. Circuit switches are the devices that establish connectivity between circuits through an internal switching matrix. Circuit switches set connections between circuits through the establishment of a talk path or transmission path. The connection and the associated bandwidth are provided temporarily, continuously, and exclusively for the duration of the session, or call. While developed to support voice communications, circuit switches can support any form of information transfer (e.g., data and video communications).
In a traditional PSTN environment, circuit switches include central office (CO) exchanges, tandem exchanges, access tandem exchanges, and international gateway facilities. Central offices, also known as exchanges, provide local access services to end users via local loop connections within a relatively small area of geography known as an exchange area. In other words, the CO provides the ability for a subscriber within that neighborhood to connect to another subscriber within that neighborhood. Central offices, also known as end offices, reside at the terminal ends of the network. In other words, COs are the first point of entry into the PSTN and the last point of exit. They are also known as class 5 offices, the lowest class in the switching hierarchy. A class 5 telephone switch communicates with an analog telephone using the analog telephony signals in the well-known analog format. The class 5 telephone switch provides power to the telephone; detects off-hook status of the telephone and provides a dial tone in response; detects dual-tone multi-frequency signals from the caller and initiates a call in the network; plays a ringback tone to the caller when the far-end telephone is ringing; plays a busy tone to the caller when the far-end telephone is busy; provides ring current to the telephone on incoming calls; and provides traditional telephone services such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, etc.
In an effort to increase the amount and speed of information transmitted across networks, the telecommunications industry is shifting toward broadband packet networks which are designed to carry a variety of services such as voice, data, and video. For example, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks have been developed to provide broadband transport and switching capability between local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). The Sprint ION network is a broadband network that is capable of delivering a variety of services such as voice, data, and video to an end user at a residential or business location. The Sprint ION network has a wide area IP/ATM or ATM backbone that is connected to a plurality of local loops via multiplexors. Each local loop carries ATM over ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) traffic to a plurality of integrated service hubs (ISHs), which may be at either residential or business locations.
An ISH is a hardware component that links business or residential user devices such as telephones and computers to the broadband, wide area network through a plurality of user interfaces and at least one network interface. A suitable ISH is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,553 entitled “Multi-Services Communications Device,” issued on Aug. 7, 2001, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The network interface typically is a broadband network interface such as ADSL, T1, or HDSL-2. Examples of user interfaces include telephone interfaces such as plain old telephone system (POTS) ports (also referred to as jacks) for connecting telephones, fax machines, modems, and the like to the ISH; computer interfaces such as ethernet ports for connecting computers and local area networks to the ISH; and video ports such as RCA jacks for connecting video players, recorders, monitors, and the like to the ISH.
In providing telephony services over a broadband network, the ISH communicates with a service manager. This connection between the ISH and the network element is typically an ATM connection, which is much different than the traditional analog line to the local switch. ATM connections usually do not support analog telephony signals, such as off-hook, dial tone, and busy signals. Therefore, the ISH must provide many of the telephony functions traditionally provided by the telephone provider central office such as detect off-hook conditions, on-hook connections, and digits as well as provide the telephones with dial tone, ring voltage (sometimes referred to as ring current), ringback, and busy signals. The terms off-hook and off-hook condition as used herein are generic terms meaning that a user device (whether telephone, facsimile machine, modem, etc.) connected to a telephone line is attempting to access and use the line.
Another example of such a central office function being provided by the ISH is telephone ring voltage. In the traditional POTS system, the central office provides necessary voltage to ring the telephones located a customer's premises. In order to mitigate the effects of power loss across the potentially long line from the central office to the customer's premises, the ring voltage provided by the central office is a higher voltage than would be required by equipment located at the customer's premises. The ISH contains an internal ring voltage power supply that provides ring voltage to the telephones connected to the ISH. The number of telephone interfaces impacts the minimum requirements of the ring voltage power supply residing in the ISH, as the amount of power used by the ISH to generate telephone ring voltage increases with the number of telephone interfaces being served. Generally speaking, increased power generating capability leads to ring voltage power supplies that are more expensive, require a larger physical space, and generate additional heat, all of which are disfavored. The present invention addresses the need to minimize the size of the ring voltage power supply residing in the ISH by reducing the number of telephones that may ring simultaneously, thereby reducing the maximum current requirement of the ring voltage power supply and resulting in a smaller ring voltage power supply.